About

Great Speech Writing has private and business clients based all over the world. They range from senior people in the private and public sectors giving high profile speeches, presentations and pitches, to best men, fathers-of-the bride and nervous grooms worried about their wedding speeches.

We have a very simple purpose: to help clients around the world write, edit and deliver their speeches and presentations. We are lucky enough to have professional clients in parliaments from Brussels to Westminster and social clients performing in marquees from Bristol to West Lothian. But whoever the client and whatever the subject, our speech writing mantra is consistent: Keep it relevant, ensure it’s appropriate and make it original.

We’re happy to chat to anyone about a speech, whether you want us to write it from scratch, or just need a bit of advice. Wherever possible, we will try to help them create something simple, intelligent and original. We’ll never charge for a phone call and our discretion is assured.

Our Director:

Lawrence Bernstein. After graduating in History from Peterhouse, Cambridge, Lawrence became chained to a desk in the City. One night, he sat in a pub dictating a best man speech to a friend about to leave for a wedding in Vegas. The friend (Mark) suggested this might be a more enjoyable way of earning a living. It was a light bulb moment. The next morning, Lawrence placed an advert in Private Eye Magazine for a new speech writing service. Nine years later, he manages ‘Great Speech Writing’ and our small team of writers from our office in North London. He continues to write speeches in addition to helping clients build communication strategies. He stays involved in every part of the business, and remains true to his original promise that no speech is too big or too small. If you would like to contact Lawrence directly please email him.

Our team of writers:

Dolan Cummings is our senior speech writer. He has been writing and delivering speeches for years. His previous work has ranged from writing at the BBC and comment pieces for the Scottish press to chairing public debates in London and elsewhere on everything from the arts to international politics. He admires speakers from Martin Luther King to Chris Rock. Dolan works on a huge range of speeches. He has an extraordinary knack of drawing the right information from clients in a short period of time!

David Elliott is an experienced writer, specialising in humorous speeches for weddings and dinners. His comic fiction has appeared in a variety of magazines, both in the UK and US, and his comedy sketches/one-liners have been used by BBC Radio 4 Extra, along with several comedy podcasts. He spent several years writing topical humour for a well known Radio Prep service, and was part of the Liverpool Everyman Theatre’s Young Writers Programme. He writes poetry and song lyrics.

Theo Eze graduated from Westminster with a degree in Literature. Speech writing is his passion but he also writes short stories, poetry and songs.

He has previously worked as a chef, and he also loves music, reading and willing United back to their former glory.

Will Howard is a creative writing graduate from North London. He is a performed playwright, theatre producer and arts writer having worked over the past decade for NME, Kerrang!, Songkick and Exeunt Magazine. He was writing speeches for nearly a decade before breaking into the world of professional speech writing. When not working he can be found over-thinking pop music in gig venues all over the city.

Ruth Quayle was previously a writer and sub-editor on national newspapers and glossy magazines, including The Week, The Guardian and Condé Nast Traveller. She also writes stories for children and is looking forward to her first book being published next year. Ruth is our go-to writer for web copy, press releases and articles.

Ben Coates has written speeches for some of Britain’s most well-known politicians. He has also worked as speechwriter and editor in the private sector. He is the author of a bestselling book about Dutch history and culture, and has written for the BBC, the Independent and the Scotsman. Drawing on that background, he writes a wide range of speeches for our clients, including business events, personal occasions and weddings.

Our trainer:

Alys Metcalf’s background is in both writing and acting for theatre, film and TV. As a writer, she trained under the prestigious Royal Court Young Writers’ Programme and Criterion New Writers’ Programme and has since written plays which have toured nationally to critical acclaim. As an actress, she was worked in the West End playing a range of interesting roles. She understands what it is to feel the pressure of performing and can empathise with those feeling nervous. Her experience has enabled her to learn key tools and tricks to manage nerves, channel pressure and deliver an optimum performance. As a Delivery coach Alys has worked with clients from a background of different sectors including: NGOs, Charities, Literary Festivals, Sporting agencies, Banking, Investment Management, Livery companies, Entrepreneurs, Marketing companies and Recruitment.

Our office managers:

Our client managers; Jay, Eliza, Amber and Sophie are likely to be your friendly first port of call when contacting us.

They liaise between our clients and writers, ensuring that you get what you want when you want it!

Katie Hedges joined us in 2014 and manages the accounts and runs our online projects. She previously worked for eleven years as an Account Manager at a German web agency and has an extraordinary eye for detail and impeccable calmness under pressure. She may be found at weekends playing tennis, watching football and baking banana cakes.